JAKARTA, Indonesia: Indonesian authorities have extended the search for victims of the Lion Air crash and the plane’s cockpit voice recorder.
National Search and Rescue Agency chief Muhammad Syaugi said Sunday the search involving hundreds of personnel and dozens of ships would continue for another three days.
The Lion Air jet crashed just minutes after takeoff from Jakarta on Monday, killing all 189 people on board. More than 100 body bags of human remains have been recovered.
Syaugi says weak signals, potentially from the cockpit voice recorder, were traced to a location but an object hadn’t been found yet due to deep seabed mud.
Syaugi says a considerable amount of aircraft “skin” was found on the seafloor but not a large intact part of its fuselage as he’d indicated Saturday was possible.
Indonesia extends search for Lion Air victims, debris
Indonesia extends search for Lion Air victims, debris
- The Lion Air jet crashed just minutes after takeoff from Jakarta on Monday, killing all 189 people on board
- More than 100 body bags of human remains have been recovered
Floods ravage Minas Gerais, killing 36 as rescuers race to find dozens missing
- Minas Gerais’s fire department said 33 people were still missing and about 3,000 residents had been forced to leave their homes
- 600 families living in endangered areas were about to be relocated to local schools improvised as shelters
JUIZ DE FORA, Brazil: Dozens are still missing in southeastern Brazil on Wednesday after floods killed at least 36 people in the state of Minas Gerais, officials said Wednesday. Rescue teams worked through the night, as heavy rain is expected in the region in the next few days.
All the victims found so far are in the cities of Juiz de Fora and Uba, about 310 kilometers (192 miles) north of Rio de Janeiro.
Minas Gerais’s fire department said 33 people were still missing and about 3,000 residents had been forced to leave their homes as of Wednesday morning.
The streets of Juiz de Fora, a city of 560,000 residents, were covered in mud as authorities feared more landslides. Life in neighboring Uba, with its 107,000 residents, came to a stop. Classes were suspended in both cities, their mayors said.
Juiz de Fora’s City Hall said in a statement that around 600 families living in endangered areas were about to be relocated to local schools improvised as shelters and that the city experienced double the rain expected for February. Mayor Margarida Salomão said at least 20 landslides had been reported since the torrential rain began Monday evening.
On Tuesday, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said on his social media channels that security forces have been deployed on rescue missions and are providing immediate assistance to the population affected by the rain. He also said health care teams had been sent to the region, which lies close to hills, valleys and slopes.
